It is pretty normal to think that we will provide some health benefits of watermelon when we give this list. But, we won’t actually do that. We will focus and concentrate only on watermelon fun facts. We will take on the health benefits of this refreshing summer fruit in a completely different article. Sounds good? So, let’s get started…

Watermelon Fun Facts: 1-5

1. The origins of watermelons can be traced all the way back to Southern Africa where wild watermelons first grew. To be more specific, the Kalahari Desert is believed to be the place where watermelon first originated.

2. The first harvest of watermelon took place in Egypt some 5,000 years ago. There are records of this in form of hieroglyphs on the walls of the ancient Egyptian building that have been studied.

3. Watermelons were put into the burial tombs of Pharaohs as it was believed by the Egyptians that the fruit will nourish them in their afterlife.

4. Watermelon’s access to the world opened through the Mediterranean Sea. They were carried to different countries using merchant ships.

5. Watermelon made it into China somewhere in the 10th century. Since then, the Chinese production of watermelons has only increased to give the country the crown of largest watermelon producer in world.

Watermelon Fun Facts: 6-10

6. Watermelon entered into Europe somewhere in the 13th century. The Moors were the people who introduced it in Europe.

7. Citrullus Lanatas – that is the biological name of watermelon and it is actually from the same family as the squash, pumpkin and the cucumber. This means, the watermelon is considered as a vegetable.

8. Well, just because it is considered to be a vegetable, it doesn’t mean that it is not a fruit. Technically speaking, it is a fruit simply because its development takes place from the ovary of the plant after the flowering. Also, it contains seeds. This makes it a fruit. Ask a botanist if you want.

9. Watermelon is an amazing fruit because every part of it can be eaten. Yes, every part! The fleshy part inside the rind, the rind and even the seeds – everything is edible.

10. There has been a long held notion that if you eat the seeds of the fruit, watermelon plant will grow inside the tummy. That’s technically impossible and is something that is told to scare children. The truth is that the seeds are extremely nutritious and chewing them and gulping them down will give you and awful lot of nutrition that your body needs.

Watermelon Fun Facts: 11-15

11. Did you know that there are over 1,200 different varieties of watermelons out there in the world? Green rind and red flesh is the commonest form but hey, did you know that watermelon can be yellow, white and orange as well?

12. Here’s a stunner – there are square watermelons. Japan is the country where these square variants are grown. They don’t grown naturally. They are simply manipulated.

13. Farmers in Japan will simply enclose a watermelon inside a glass box of square shape as it grows. The restricted box will give the watermelon its square shape.

14. The reason why the Japanese farmers grow square watermelons is that they are easy to store in refrigerators and easy to transport. They don’t roll around. Hey wait! Before you run to grab a square watermelon, just know it is very pricey.

15. There is something called Brix Scale. It is used for measuring the sweetness of watermelon. Usually the sweetness of watermelons range between 9 and 10 on this scale. However, the ones that are very sweet will range between 11 and 12.

Watermelon Fun Facts: 16-20

16. There is something called seedless watermelon. Technically, they aren’t completely seedless. They do have seeds but the seeds are white and immature and soft. You won’t realize that you are chewing a seed.

17. It was some 50 years ago that seedless watermelons were first created.

18. Contrary to the popular belief, seedless watermelons are not really genetically modified. They are simply hybrids.

19. The method used for making seedless watermelons is quite unique. It is created by crossing two different variants of watermelons.

20. One of the two variants has 22 chromosomes while the other variant has 44 chromosomes. When they are crossed they produce sterile watermelons whose seeds are immature and white in color.

Watermelon Fun Facts: 21-25

21. 92% of the total mass of a watermelon is actually nothing other than water. This is one of the reasons why early explorers used to carry watermelons instead of carrying canteens.

22. Watermelons can grow really big. The biggest and the heaviest watermelon ever grown was 350.5 lbs or 159 kg. The record was created in 2013 by USA’s Chris Kent who lived in Sevierville, Tennessee, USA.

23. Oklahoma in USA has named watermelon as the state vegetable. It became the state vegetable after a committee of 46 voted 44-2 in favor of considering it a vegetable back in 2007.

24. There is a variety of watermelon called the Bradford. It was created by Nathaniel Napoleon Bradford of South Carolina back in 1840s. It was unusually sweet but the skin was too soft for transportation, making it commercially nonviable.

25. So, the commercial production of the variety ended by 1920s and it almost died out but the Bradford family decided to keep the variety alive in their backyard for several generations. The great-great-great grandson – Nat Bradford has once again started producing it commercially.

Watermelon Fun Facts: 26-30

26. There is something called ‘Watermelon Month’ in the US. It is the month of July and it is so called because it is this month when watermelon production in the country is the highest.

27. In China, it is a custom that the guests offers watermelons to the hostess as a gift.

28. Southern food historian – John Egerton believes that African slaves were the ones who introduced watermelon in the US.

29. Sprinkling some salt on watermelon actually pulls out the flavor and the juice of the fruit and makes it even tastier.

30. Heard the name – Jason Schayot? He is famous for spitting watermelon seeds to the maximum distance. He actually holds a world record in that and back in 1995, he managed to spit out watermelon seed at a distance of 75 feet and 2 inches. That’s quite some distance.